Jay Leno visited by The Judge

The nickname on this Pontiac GTO didn’t come from a designer or an ad executive — it came from a comedian’s catchphrase on a late-1960s sketch show that Pontiac’s marketing team couldn’t resist. Decades later, a fully restored example of that same car earned a spot in Jay Leno’s garage. Here’s the story behind the name.

On the list of all-time great muscle cars, there’s a place for the Pontiac GTO, and it slides in near the very top.
After all, many consider the GTO to be the grandfather of all the muscle cars and for good reason. In 1964, Pontiac added a GTO package to the Tempest, which transformed the car into a 325-horsepower street beast. Fast forward a few years, and the second-generation GTO became its own model and also introduced us to the somewhat audacious version known as The Judge.

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When Jay Leno gets handed the keys to a car, it’s usually because that car earned the invitation the hard way — and few muscle cars have a stranger backstory behind their name than the one waiting in his garage this time. The nickname didn’t come from a boardroom or a badge designer; it came from a comedian’s catchphrase on a late-1960s sketch show, of all places, that Pontiac’s marketing team decided was too perfect to pass up. Add in a full rotisserie restoration, an engine rated well north of 350 horsepower, and an owner who happens to run one of the biggest names in classic tire manufacturing, and you’ve got a car with almost as much story as horsepower. Where did that name actually come from, and how did this particular Judge end up in Jay Leno’s hands?

The Comedy Sketch Behind the Name

The Judge nickname was borrowed from “Here Come the Judge,” a catchphrase made famous by comedian Pigmeat Markham on Laugh-In, which Pontiac’s marketing team leaned into for ad taglines when the option package was added to the GTO lineup for 1969.

The Car That Made It Into Jay Leno’s Garage

The 1970 GTO Judge featured on Jay Leno’s Garage runs a 366-horsepower engine paired with a four-speed manual and a hood-mounted tachometer, and was purchased from a friend in Hawaii before undergoing a complete rotisserie restoration. Its owner, Wade Kawasaki, is the president of Coker Tire, one of the best-known names in reproduction tires for classic and muscle cars.

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